“Caw!”
Amidst the shrill cry, a giant black eagle also descended from the sky above.
As the black eagle landed, the cats and dogs on its back also peered down one after another.
The first sight that entered their eyes was an ordinary mountain view, with sprouting grass and gurgling streams, beasts foraging, a scene full of vitality.
But in the next moment,
Du ke and the puppy’s vision wavered, and that mountain view actually turned into grey mist.
Seeing this grey mist, Du ke's nose twitched.
No, to be more precise this was not mist.
It was more like the smoke left after burning incense!
As the black eagle passed through the smoke, Du ke's ears suddenly stood up, and the puppy immediately tucked in its tail.
Because both of them felt a surging demonic aura rushing towards them like shocking waves.
The cat's fur stood on end across its body, and its body also became somewhat bloated. Shi San even tucked in its tail and shrank behind Du ke.
However, the stimulation brought by this demonic aura came and went quickly.
In just a blink of an eye, that indescribable sense of intimidation disappeared without a trace, but the shock in Du ke and Shi San's hearts did not dissipate along with it.
The truth is that the demonic aura from earlier was simply too fierce, it was like facing a mountain collapse, unavoidable, nowhere to escape.
And something that could give rise to such a demonic aura, naturally was also the result of the demonic auras of all kinds of demons down below mixing and intertwining.
Du ke breathed a few times to calm himself down.
He also took in the full view of the demon market, with Du ke's eyesight now, looking down from above, he could even clearly see the pebbles on the ground.
The first thing that caught his eye was a temple that looked like it had been abandoned. Although this temple still had burning incense, its walls were collapsed, the yard was overgrown with weeds, and even half of the main palace hall housing the deity statues had collapsed.
But this nearly abandoned temple that still had burning incense was at the center of the entire demon market.
And the demon market itself fanned out seven or eight li longitudinally, with the temple at its center.
As far as Du ke's eyes could see, everywhere he looked he could see demons with faint demonic auras continuously scurrying about within the demon market like ants.
There were both newly built shops in the demon market, as well as street peddlers shouting along the streets.
At the interior and edges of the demon market there were also signs of large construction projects, seemingly not only improving the demon market itself, but also expanding outwards.
After looking over the full view of the demon market from above, Du ke also silently pondered.
This demon market seemed to have just opened up recently, otherwise there wouldn't still be shops under construction, and the edges wouldn't still be expanding.
As Du ke thought to himself, the black eagle also powerfully flapped its wings and descended towards the ground.
As it flapped its wings, strong winds blasted downwards, clearly causing ring-shaped air currents to spread out on the ground. And upon seeing the black eagle's return, several monkeys with faint demonic auras also rushed towards the black eagle.
As soon as the black eagle landed, the monkeys surrounded it. Some brought food and water for the black eagle, some held brushes and waited nearby to groom the black eagle's feathers, some held books and waited nearby.
Apart from them, there was also a messy group of little demons standing further away, staring longingly at the black eagle.
No, rather than saying they were staring at the black eagle, it was more accurate to say they were staring at the cats and dogs on the black eagle's back.
The black eagle lowered its body and spread its wings. As its body tilted slightly, Du ke and Shi San also walked down its wings.
As soon as the cat and dog's paws touched the ground, the monkey holding the books strode towards Du ke.
"Is this your first time here?"
The monkey wore a scholar's hat on its head, held books in its left hand and a wolf-hair brush in its right, and also had a bamboo tube around its waist.
Du ke twitched his nose, the bamboo tube should contain ink.
"It's our first time here."
As soon as Du ke spoke to the monkey, it clamped the wolf-hair brush in its mouth and flipped through the book in its hand.
"Place of origin, species, name."
The monkey glanced at Du ke, then looked at Shi San, "I need to record for both of you!"
"I can understand recording species and name, but is place of origin also required to enter the demon market?"
Du ke raised an eyebrow, curious about the demon market's management methods.
"In the world today, humans are strong while we demons are weak."
Seeing that Du ke and Shi San were here for the first time, the monkey also spoke in an official-sounding tone, slowly explaining: "If we demons don't want to be bullied by humans, we must have rules!"
"This rule of checking place of origin was set together by the current Twenty-eight Demon Kings. We just need to follow it, no need to ask so many questions."
"Also, if you don't tell me your place of origin, how would I know where you're from and which Demon King you belong to?"
"If you cause trouble here, how would your superiors deal with you?"
"There is reason behind all this!"
When it got here, disdain also appeared in the monkey's eyes as it looked at the cat and dog in front of it.
These must be ignorant country bumpkins who don't even understand the basic rules!
"Alright, alright!"
Du ke sighed. This was just checking their roots, no need to make it sound so complicated.
"We are both from Mao City, Lingzhou!"
As soon as Du ke said this, the monkey immediately blinked its eyes, "Oh, demons from Lingzhou!"
"That really is rare!"
"And Mao City.....seems a little familiar." While recording, the monkey muttered: "I feel like I've heard of it before."
"Nevermind, I give up thinking about it. Species....." The monkey sized up Du ke and Shi San, and without waiting for Du ke to speak, directly wrote: "Hmm, white cat, wolf dog!"
"What are your names?"
"Du ke, Du Shi San."
Seeing that the monkey had recorded their species as white cat and wolf dog, Du ke didn't argue much.
He remembered that Qian Sui had said before leaving that spirit cats were highly coveted in the outside world.
"These names....." The monkey shook its head, "A cat not using the Miao or Miu surnames, but going by Du instead, and this wolf dog is also surnamed Du, you two wouldn't happen to have been raised by an ox demon!"
When it got here, the surrounding monkeys all laughed out loud.
Du ke didn't want to argue about this. Qian Sui, Men Hu Lu, and the unseen Si Er all only had personal names without surnames, what was wrong with him being surnamed Du?
And the puppy following his surname was also perfectly fine!
"Alright, you two have been registered. Remember to go light two sticks of incense at the Filial Lion Ancestor Temple later and get a plaque there."
"Also, don't cause any trouble here, remember to obediently....outsider demons aren't very welcome here."
The monkey stopped speaking and also turned to leave swaying its head. Du ke watched as the monkey left without the slightest delay, and also tilted his head.
He felt a little looked down upon!
So demons also have discrimination between locals and outsiders?
But it made sense, wherever there are people there are social connections, demons naturally also have their own social forms and identity consciousness.
"Although the plan was to just have the black eagle immediately turn around and take us to the border of Cangzhou and Wuzhou after arriving."
"But since we're already here, we should at least take a look around!"
Du ke glanced at Shi San, "What do you think?"
"Woof woof!"
Shi San looked completely indifferent. Wherever the cat master went, the puppy would follow.
As long as it had the cat master by its side, it didn't care where they went.
"Alright, since that's the case, let's stroll around this demon market and see if there's anything good!"
Du ke directly leapt up and landed on the saddle on Shi San's back.
As soon as the white cat was seated firmly, the dog immediately strode forward, walking towards the street outside.
The place where the black eagle had landed seemed to be a helipad at the edge of the demon market, not connected to the market's streets.
To enter the demon market, they would have to first leave here.
But who would have known that as soon as the puppy took a step here, the little monsters who had been waiting outside swarmed towards the cat and dog combo.
"Sir, do you need a guide?"
"Sir, if this is your first time coming to our Cangzhou monster market, you must find a guide. I'm extremely good!"
"Sir, choose me, I'm very familiar with the monster market!"
"Sir, choose me, my price is reasonable!"
......
A group of little monsters chatted endlessly, making Duke's head hurt.
"Okay, okay, stop first!"
Duke raised his voice slightly, and all the little monsters closed their mouths, staring at the white cat sitting on the dog's back with hopeful eyes.
"Let me ask you, what kind of guide are you talking about?
If you just take me around the monster market, then don't come and chatter again.
But if you say that while taking me around the monster market, you will also introduce me to the situation in the monster market, then I will invite one of you!"
Duke's golden eyes swept around, and all the little monsters shrank their necks wherever Duke's eyes reached.
This white cat looked small, but the aura on him was really strong.
Much stronger than the monsters they had seen before.
For a while, many little monsters were speechless, all weighing in their hearts whether to receive this guest or not.
"Sir, please take me, I'm cheap, I only need one gold coin!"
A little rabbit on the outermost edge strenuously raised its paws, looking at Duke apprehensively.
"Gold coin?"
Duke raised his eyebrows, "Your prices here are quite expensive!"
"You should know that outside, hiring a guide is only a few dozen coppers a day, and even the more expensive ones are only one silver coin."
"You guys actually want gold coins here?"
"But sir, this is the monster market." The little rabbit said timidly: "The mundane money that can be used in the monster market is only gold coins."
"Other than gold coins?"
Duke asked the little rabbit again, and the little rabbit instinctively lowered its head under the white cat's stare, but still said: "Other than gold coins....."
"I know, I know!"
A black-winged crow cried out loudly: "Other than gold coins, what circulates in our monster market are spirit stones and monster coins."
"Spirit stones and monster coins are only used by big monsters, ordinary little monsters don't use them!"
"That's right, ordinary little monsters all use gold coins."
A group of little monsters started chattering again, and Duke also nodded slightly, with a hint of enlightenment in his eyes.
The threshold to enter this monster market was quite high, no wonder some monsters didn't even have the qualifications to enter.
Without gold coins, what could they do after coming in?
Be a laborer, I guess that would also be difficult!
Duke saw from the air the large-scale construction, although the construction was done by monsters, but all the monsters busy with the construction were orderly and efficient.
A monster who didn't know anything, had no money and no skills, just brute strength, who would use him?
"Sir, actually apart from gold coins, spirit stones and monster coins, bartering is also possible in the monster market, it's just more troublesome."
The little rabbit added, Duke looked at the rabbit twice, and casually threw out a gold coin.
"Alright, it's you then."
"During my time in the monster market, you can serve as my guide. If you perform well, there will be rewards!"
Seeing the gold coin flying towards it, the little rabbit jumped up to catch it in its mouth and swallowed it down.
This scene made Duke click his tongue, this kid was really reckless!
He even dared to swallow gold, wasn't he afraid of losing his life?
Swallowing gold to commit suicide was no joke!
However, human and monster physiques were different, so were their physiological structures. Perhaps swallowing gold was just the way monsters stored things.
Thinking of this, Duke was no longer bothered by it.
"Alright, lead the way!"
"Alright sir, please come this way!"
The little rabbit hurriedly showed Duke a flattering smile, and led Duke away from here.
Seeing this business snatched away by the rabbit, the other little monsters also clicked their tongues.
"This cat looks like a rich guest, unexpectedly the grass-eating rabbit got to do business with him!"
"That's right, look at his crown, it's clearly no ordinary object!"
"How could a cat who has no lack of money run from Lingzhou to our Cangzhou!"
"Who knows, you can tell from his bearing and looks that he's different from us, maybe he has powerful connections."
"What could be going through the mind of such a character, it's not something we can guess!"
"You're right about that!"
"I wonder who will be next."
"I heard the rumored Si Er is coming to our place!"
"Really?"
"Seems to be true, after all our general manager did go looking for Mr. Si Er before, saying he needed his help!"
"Oh my, if it's true, we have to go up and impress him when he arrives, maybe we can get some rewards!"
"Exactly, exactly!"